Gary is also a strong supporter of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy (SAS)and the FACSS series of conferences. He has attended almost every FACSS meeting since the inaugural meeting in Atlantic City in 1974. He has received many awards and honors associated with FACSS and the SAS including the Anachem Award (1994), the Meggers Award (1983, 1995), the Lester W. Strock Award (1984, 1992) and the New York Section of the SAS Gold Medal Award (2004). He served as president of the SAS in 1991 and was made an honorary member in 1999 and a Fellow of the Society in 2004. An anecdote about FACSS and Gary is that with his birthday falling on October 1, a date that often coincides with the dates of the FACSS meeting , we frequently celebrate his birthday during the FACSS meeting. Again this year his birthday(number70)falls during the FACSS meeting dates in Kansas City.